1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an arrangement for reproducing an electric signal from a track on a magnetic record carrier, the arrangement including
a magnetic read head for reading from the track an electric signal and for supplying the electric signal to an output, PA1 variable equalizer filter means, having an input coupled to an output of the magnetic read head, a control signal input and an output, the equalizer filter means being adapted to equalize the electric signal read from the track in response to a control signal supplied to its control signal input, and to supply an equalized output signal at its output, and PA1 control signal generator means having an output coupled to the control signal input of the equalizer filter means, the generator means being adapted to generate a control signal and to supply the control signal to its output.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such an arrangement is known from published European Patent Application EP 387,813 A2, corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,237,588 and 5,274,512.
In the known arrangement, equalization is realized by varying the filter parameters in response to the control signal supplied to the control signal input, such that the magnitude of the filter response is increased or decreased.
The generation of the control signal in the control signal generator means can be realized in various ways. In the known arrangement, the signal from the equalizer filter means is applied in digital form to a data processing circuit which includes a detection circuit. The detection circuit is adapted to detect the bit error rate in the signal applied to the data processing circuit. A control signal is generated in response to the error rate, which control signal is applied to the control signal input of the equalizer filter means, so as to vary the filter parameters such that the bit error rate is minimized.
The known arrangement has the disadvantage that rather complex circuitry is needed to realize the equalizer filter means and the control signal generator means. The reason is that the known arrangement makes use of equalizer filter means in digital form, so that generating the parameters for the filter in response to the error rate detected requires a complex algorithm.